| Challenging students have been part of the landscape of American classrooms for a very long time. Whether underachievers or overachieving troublemakers, their attitude toward learning has been at best, draining and, at worst, nearly impossible to deal with on a daily basis. Building upon the work of Maslow (1968), Heatherley (1984), Kohl (1994), Rogers (2003), Delisle (2004), and Curwin (1988, 2006), among others, this qualitative study looked at the correlation between 5 peer- and self-perceived successful adults from 5 disparate fields and the academic history of each. It was found that a common thread of dignity shown by at least 1 adult other than their parent and relevant lessons provided by at least 1 teacher in their academic careers helped these 3 men and 2 women to find relevance in and take "ownership" of their own education. This resulted in meeting and surpassing personal and academic goals they had set for themselves. |
